Raytheon's Kennedy ranked among top US CEOs

Glassdoor honors Thomas A. Kennedy with 2017 Employees' Choice Award

Raytheon CEO Thomas A. Kennedy is one of the best corporate leaders in the country.

Just ask his employees.

Employer database and employment review site Glassdoor has named Kennedy to its 2017 Employees' Choice list of the 100 highest-rated CEOs of U.S. companies. The list honors leaders of businesses with more than 1,000 employees, based on anonymous reviews from each company's workforce.

Kennedy received a 90 percent approval rating from Raytheon employees, according to Glassdoor. The average approval rating for a CEO in the Glassdoor survey is 67 percent.

"Unlike any other workplace awards, the Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Awards are based on the input of employees who voluntarily provide anonymous feedback, by completing a company review, about their CEOs leadership, along with insight into their job, work environment and employer over the past year," according to a release from Glassdoor.

Raytheon is an "excellent place to work," said one employee in the Glassdoor survey.

"Great employer," said another.

Kennedy joined Raytheon in 1983, starting off in engineering on radar development. He became CEO in March, 2014, and assumed the role of chairman of the Board of Directors the following October.

During his military service, Kennedy attained the rank of captain in the U.S. Air Force, with responsibility for managing satellite launch vehicle avionics development and production programs. He holds a doctorate in engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles; and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from Rutgers University and the Air Force Institute of Technology, respectively.

Raytheon Company, with 2016 sales of $24 billion and 63,000 employees, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government and cybersecurity solutions. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.